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A judge acquitted the only person charged in Magnitsky's 2009 jail-cell death, and Russia plans to try the lawyer posthumously on fraud charges.

Dmitry Kratov, the only official charged with the death of Russian whistleblowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, walked free on Friday after a Moscow court acquitted him of negligence. (Misha Japaridze / AP)

Russia entered the New Year with new questions hanging over its human rights record, as a judge acquitted the only person charged in the 2009 death of whistle-blowing Moscow tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

It followed months of worsening relations with Washington, which has slapped sanctions against 60 people said to have played roles in Magnitsky’s death. The Russian parliament hit back with a bill forbidding Americans to adopt Russian orphans.

Last week negligence charges were quashed against Dmitry Kratov, who was responsible for medical care in Moscow’s Butyrka prison, at the time the severely ailing Magnitsky, 37, died on the floor of a jail cell with marks of a savage beating.

Magnitsky had been detained and allegedly tortured after uncovering evidence that pointed to senior officials he believed were implicated in the biggest tax fraud scheme in Russian history.

But turning the tables, Russian prosecutors now plan to try Magnitsky posthumously on charges of criminal fraud, along with his former boss, William Browder, who heads the London-based firm Hermitage Capital Management. They allege that the pair conspired in the tax-theft scheme.

Magnitsky suffered from pancreatitis while in jail, and his lawyer presented evidence that he had been beaten to death with truncheons wielded by police and sanctioned by officials. He had repeatedly called for medical help for at least two months, but his pleas went unanswered.

Kratov told the court that he lacked the staff to give Magnitsky proper medical care. But the judge’s decision came a week after Putin told the media that “no one tortured Magnitsky and he died of heart failure.” The state prosecutor called for an acquittal in spite of damning evidence against the doctor.

Former Moscow prison official Olga Grigorieva testified that the trial was “preordered” and appeared to be controlled by powerful outsiders.

“The trial against Kratov was a complete farce,” said Browder, who heads the fund that was once the largest foreign investor in the Russian stock market.

Browder was deported and charged with tax evasion after Magnitsky uncovered evidence of the massive $320 million tax-fraud scheme.

“The Russian authorities basically took instructions from (President Vladimir) Putin not to prosecute a single Russian official. The more they cover this up, the more scandalous this case becomes,” Browder said in an email to the Star.

Meanwhile, police in Britain are investigating the mysterious death of a Russian anti-corruption whistleblower, 44-year-old Alexander Perepilichny, who collapsed outside his guarded estate outside of London in November. He had been helping Swiss prosecutors investigate a Russian crime gang suspected of masterminding a major tax-fraud money-laundering scheme that may be linked to the Magnitsky case.

The events cap a year of mounting criticism of Russia’s treatment of the Kremlin’s political opponents, and its restrictions on freedom of association and expression have been widely decried in the West.

A recently passed law restricts the activities of civil society groups that receive funds from abroad, including human rights organizations that have little financial support within Russia. They are required to register as “foreign agents,” a term revived from the Soviet era.

Opposition leaders who protested publicly have been jailed, and members of the female satirical punk group Pussy Riot were arrested and sent to distant gulag-like labour camps for “hooliganism on grounds of religious hatred.” Other dissidents have been threatened with jail for what they say are trumped-up accusations of financial crimes.

Most recently, the Moscow City Council passed a law banning vigils by picket-carrying protesters, and forbidding people travelling in cars in the city centre from carrying protest symbols.

On New Year’s Eve, about 25 people were reportedly arrested in Moscow for holding an “unsanctioned protest,” including radical writer Eduard Limonov.

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